Frederick j



v Patented Feb. I4, |899. F. J; CRONIN.

(Application led Apr. 18, 1898.)

(No Model.)

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TH: NoRms PETERS cn. PHcTuLn'no., WASHINGTON. n. c

3 5 tion.

4o section in line 4 4, Fig. 2.

NITED STATES' PATENT OFFICE.

FREDERICK J. ORONIN, OF BUFFALO, NEW YORK.

DOOR.

SlIEtJIFIlATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 619,676, dated February 14, 1899.

Application filed April l 8, 1 89 8.

o all whom it may' concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK J. CRONIN,

'a citizen of the United States, residing at Buf- 1 falo, in the county of Erie and State of New l to doors and in which the body of the door is built up of strips or pieces of cheap or soft wood and veneered with hard or soft or more expensive wood. v

One of the objects of my invention is to coni neet the stiles, rails, or other frame members of the door by a mortise and tenon joint which does not require the parts to be cut, as in an ordinary mortise-and-tenon joint, so as to save material and the time and expense of zo cutting mortises and tenons, but at the same time obtain the Strength afforded by such a joint. In such cored doors as hitherto constructed it has been necessary to apply the panels at the time of building up the door.

z By this practicel the panels are liable to be soiled with glue and to become marred or disfigured.

My invention has the further objects to so construct the doorthat the panels can be apgo plied thereto after completing the frame, so

as to avoid the above-named objections and also to improve the door in other respects.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a face view of a door embodying my inven- Fig. 2 is a similar view of the door before the veneer and the panels are applied thereto, a portion of the door being shown in section. Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical section in line 3 3, Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a horizontal Fig. 5 is a perspective view of one of the temporary panel holders or clips. Fig. 6 isan enlarged horizontal section of the door in line 6 6, Fig. 1, showing one of the panels removed from its opening and the jaws of the panel holders or clips bent aside to receive the panel.

Like letters of reference refer to like parts in the several figures.

A represents the Stiles of the door; B B',

5o the top and bottom rails; C, an intermediate or lock rail, and D D the muntins, The

Serial No. 677,952. (No model.)

' stiles and the top and bottom rails are each built up of a number of wooden strips of uniform thickness arranged side by side, and the outer ends of the strips'of each of these members are preferably stepped or, in other words, extend successively beyond each other from the innermost strip outwardly, so that the rails and stiles meet at the four corners of the door in stepped diagonal joints, as shown in Fig. 2. The outermost strips of the stiles may be of hard wood and the remaining strips of soft or inferior Wood. The lock-rail is com` posed of similar wooden strips and is secured at its outer ends to the stiles by mortise-andtenon joints, which are preferably of the peculiar construction shown in the drawings. All of the strips forming the lock-rail are of uniform thickness throughout their length and of the same thickness as the strips of the stiles, so that said rail is iiush with the stiles. The intermediate strip or strips of the lockrail are made somewhat longer than the outer or remaining strips, so as to project beyond the latter for forming tenons, as shown at c in Fig.\2. One or more of the outer strips of each stile may be continuous; but the inner strips are divided at the lock-rail, and the ends of these divided strips are separated by a space 0f the proper size and shape to receive the tenoned ends of the lock-rail, these spaces do not extend into the sides of any of the strips, but are formed by the ends and sides of adjacent strips. In the construction shown in the drawings the stiles and the lock-rail are each composed of four strips, and the two inner strips of the lock-rail extend beyond the outer rails the thickness of one strip, while the innermost strip of the stile recedes the thickness of one strip from the end of the adjacent stile-strip, so that the mortises are formed by the opposing steppedl ends of the two inner strips of the stiles and the side of the inner continuous strip. Itis obvious that the stiles and rails may be composed of a greater or less number of strips. v

The muntins, which are usually somewhat narrower than the stiles, are also made up of narrow strips of wood of uniform thickness throughout their length and of the same thickness as those of the stiles and rails. The mun -practically forming mortises, which, however, A l

tins shown in the drawings are composed of three strips. The ends of the upper muntin are representedas being square and are seated in mortises which are formed by making one or more of the adjacent strips of the upper rail and the lockrail of such length that a space of the proper width to receive the ends of said lnuntin is left between the innerends of the strips, as shown in Fig. 2, in the same manner that such mortises are formed in the stiles for the reception of t-he lock-rail. In the drawings the upper mortise of this muntin is represented as extendingthrough two of the strips of the top rail and the lower mortise as extending through but one strip of the lockrail.

forming a tenon on the end of the muntin, and

the mortise in the bottom rail is shaped to iit the adjacent end of the muntin. If preferred, both ends of the lower muntin may be square, like those of the upper muntin.

It will now be understood that all of the strips of which the door-frame is composed are of uniform thickness from end toend, so that those members of the door having tenoned or reduced ends are iiush with all of the strips of the other members, presenting a iiat flush I surface on beth sides of the door.

and muntins of the door and covering the various strips of the door.

forming the frame members and unite the same so eectually that it is unnecessary to glue the strips together at their sides,although they may be so glued, if desired. of veneer e' e', which cover the stiles, extend unbroken across the diagonal joints at the corners of the door and across the joints between the Stiles and the lock-rail, while the veneer strips e2 e3 e4, which cover the top, bottom,and lock rails,extend continuously across the joints between the muntins and these rails, thus firmly uniting the several laminated members of the door.

When the body of the door is made up partly of soft-wood strips and partly of hard-word strips, the hard strips in case of shrinkage or swelling have a tendency to pull or displace the soft strips. To prevent such displacement, the strips are preferably provided on their contiguous sides with longitudinal ribs or corrugations f, which interlock with each other, as shown in Fig. 6, and thereby retain the strips in their proper relative position. This corrugated feature of the strips is not posite sides thereof. `The lower muntin D' is made up of strips The strips necessarily combined with the other features of my invention, and, if desired, the ribs or corrugations of the strips may be omitted, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4.

By forming the joints between the various door members as hereinshown and described the strength of the ordinary tenon-and-mortise joint is obtained, while the time and expense and waste of material incident to cutting the parts of such a joint is saved, thus effecting a material reduction in the cost of the door.

G represents the panels of the door seated in the panel-openings,and g the usual molding, secured around theedge of the panels on op- The'panels are not secured in the door at the time of building up the same, but are secured in the panel-openings after the door-frame has been completed. For this purpose the panels are made somewhat smaller than the panel-openings and are te1n porarily held in place in the openings while securing them by clips or holders. These holders preferably consist of short tubes or nipples h, which are seated at intervals in the edge of the panel-opening,and iiexible jaws or lugs h',pro j jaws are normally parallel with the door and arranged at a sucient distance apart to receive the edge of the panel between them. ln inserting a panel all of the jaws h on one side of the nipplesare bent outwardlyat right angles to the door, asshown in the right-hand panelopeningin Fig. 6. The panel is then Y l inserted in its opening4 and placed against e, e', e2, e3, e4, e5, and e6 are strips of veneer j applied to opposlte sides of the Stiles, rails,

the projecting unbent jaws of the nipples, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 6, whereupon a the bent jaws are turnedv inwardly to their These veneer strips 1, are glued to the faces of the various strips 1 former position, as shown in connection .with the left-hand panel in said iigure, thus con ining the panel in its opening. The molding g is then secured to the door, whereby the panel is irmly held in place. The temporary holders h 7L remain in the door and assist in securing the panels in place.

By applying the panels to the door after the frame is iinished instead of at the time of making the frame the panels are not soiled by the glue used for uniting the strips of the door and they are not exposed to the liability of being marred or otherwise defaced.

I claim as my invention- 1. A door having adjacent frame members one of which is composed of strips secured together side by side, one or more of said strips being divided and the opposing ends of said divided strip or strips being separated by a space or mortise which receives the end of .the other member, substantially as set forth.

2. A door having adjacent frame members each composed of strips of uniform thickness throughout their length and arranged side by side, one of said members having one or more of its strips divided and the opposing ends of IOO Ito

said divided strip or strips being separated by a space or mortise which receives the end of the other member, and layers of veneering applied to opposite sides of said members and extending unbroken across the joint between the members, substantially as set forth.

3. A door having adjacent frame members each composed of strips of uniform thickness arranged side by side, the central strip or strips of one of said members extending beyond the remaining members to form a tenon, and the other member having one or more of its strips divided and the opposing ends of said divided strip or -strips being separated by a space or mortise corresponding to the shape of the tenoned end of the other member and receiving said end,'substantially as set forth.'

4. A door having its stiles and top and bottom rails each composed of strips arranged side by side, the ends of the strips of each of said members being stepped from the innermost to the outermost strip and abutting against the correspondingly-stepped strips of the adjacent member, whereby said stiles andrails meet in stepped diagonal joints, substantially as set forth.

5. The combination with a door-frame having a panel-opening, of a panel constructed to enter said opening, and clips or holders arranged at the edge of the panel-opening and adapted to receive and coniine the panel, substantially as set forth.

6. The combination with a door-frame hav-A ing a panel-opening, of a panel constructed to enter said opening, panel clips or holders consisting of nipples secured at intervals to the edge of the panel-openingv and each provided with flexible jaws projecting from said nipple into the panel-opening and adapted to be bent aside to admit the panel, and molding-strips for securing the panel in its open; ing, substantially as set forth.

Witness my hand this 11th day of April,

FREDERICK J. CRONIN.

Witnesses:

THEO. L. POPP, KATHRYN ELMORE. 

